Clubs

The Dartmouth Club of Los Angeles drew a standing-room only crowd for an event featuring Shonda Rhimes ’91, executive producer of the hit shows Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. More than 100 alumni attended the “How to Create a Hit TV Series” event held at the Writer’s Guild of America in Beverly Hills. Shonda shared her life story, including her experiences at Dartmouth. She was a participant in Dartmouth’s Black Underground Theater Association and majored in English. Back then she envisioned a future as a struggling novelist in New York, but never imagined ending up in Hollywood. Today she’s a six-time Emmy winner and was named to Time magazine’s 2007 list of “The Time 100: People Who Shape Our World.”

Shonda offered insights into how a television series is created, produced and renewed season after season. When she was first pitching Grey’s Anatomy to network executives, she described it as “Sex and the City but with surgery.” “Their eyes would light up when she said that,” explained club president and event moderator Jethro Rothe-Kushel ’03, who is also a director and producer. The event was cosponsored by Dartmouth Alumni in Entertainment & Media and Young Alumni of Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth Club of Pioneer Valley, which serves alumni from Northampton, Amherst and Springfield, Massachusetts, gathered on a warm May evening to greet participants in Ledyard Canoe Club’s annual Trip to the Sea. Trip to the Sea is a weeklong canoe trip down the Connecticut River from Hanover to Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Alumni and friends welcomed the 20 stalwart paddlers as they docked in South Hadley on the trip’s fourth night, reports club co-president Ellen Brout Lindsey ’81.

They enjoyed a sumptuous barbeque dinner and Dartmouth good fellowship. Diana Spurgin ’82, outdid herself by preparing a delicious banquet of pulled pork sandwiches, homemade coleslaw and other tasty treats. The students inhaled the feast a welcome change from three nights in a row of pasta!

Henry Eberhardt ’61 and Steve Schreiber ’79, who went on the trip as a senior, organized the event. Henry said the evening’s highlights included singing the alma mater with arms linked and joining a “group hug” with the ’09s. He marveled that attendees spanned 70 years of the Dartmouth family, from Lou Oldershaw ’39 to the ’09 paddlers.

“What a blast meeting all of these incredibly competent ’09s,” writes club secretary Ed Mazer ’63. “We definitely plan to make this activity an annual event.”

Each summer big-city Dartmouth clubs host send-off dinners for dozens of local incoming freshmen. Smaller clubs also host parties to mark the beginning of a Dartmouth education even for just one student! In Key West, Florida, a dinner was held for Olivia Kent ’13 and her family. Also attending were Duncan Mathewson ’60 and Stan Sack ’79.

Olivia, valedictorian at Key West High School, helped win a $100,000 state grant for a high school program in which students learn how to make biodiesel fuels. “I hope she’ll join the Big Green Bus venture and steer them to the Florida Keys next year,” writes Dr. Sid Goldman ’60, president of the Dartmouth Club of the Florida Keys.

Westward in Texas, the Fort Worth group held a sendoff barbecue at the home of Joe Cecere ’71 and his wife, Dottie, for Zachary D.W. Ballenger ’13 of Grapevine and Myung “Daniel” H. Choi ’13 of Fort Worth. “Each frosh gets a Texas flag that was flown over the capitol in Austin and is suitable for hanging on the wall in the dorm. We also stand around the piano and sing the ‘Alma Mater’ and other Dartmouth songs,” reports Ward Hindman ’65, Th’68. Other attendees included Tim Scott, Tu’68, Jack Stempel ’57 and wife Judy and Susan Hess ’81 and husband Rick Wray, parents of Christina Wray ’12.

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